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She covered her mouth, tears of a different sort falling from her eyes now. “Say it again,” she begged.
“We are rebuilding your parents’ house, babe.Yourhouse.” He kissed her forehead. “Our house, if you’ll have me.”
She pulled him into a tear-filled kiss, laughing and crying all at once. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he told her. “So much.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” she asked, holding his face between her hands.
“Well, I’d be about the biggest asshole ever if I said no, now wouldn’t I?” he asked with a laugh. “But yes, I’m sure. I’m not saying we have to get married yet, but we already live together. Who cares what city that’s in? Darlington is your home. Andyouare my home.” He placed a hand on her belly. “And if you are pregnant, whether or not it’s mine, I will love this baby with absolutely everything I have, Blythe. As much as I love you.”
“How did I ever get to be so lucky?” she asked.
“I ask myself that every damn day.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
ONE YEAR LATER
“Are you ready?” Finn asked, kissing her fingers once more. Her hands were ice cold in his palms, mostly from nerves, but she’d never been more sure of anything in her life.
Together, they walked through the large door nearly identical to the one she’d walked through so many times as a child—her in a white dress, him in a tux. Their new life would start just as it had over a year ago, only this time she was dressed in white for him.
The preacher stood just below the staircase, Bible in hand. He smiled at them warmly as they walked toward him. To their left, AnnaBeth stood, holding their son in her arms. To their right, Jacob and Mona were waiting, smiles on their faces, though Blythe wondered if they held any resentment toward her.
They’d showed up for the child who had been like a son to them on the most important day of his life. The ceremony was small, just those three in attendance. Blythe wore her mother’s green necklace around her neck and stood in the place where she and her parents had stood every year for a forced family picture.
In the home Finn had built, she felt closer to her parents than she’d ever dreamed possible again. It was a home they’d raise their son in. A home they’d make memories of their own in…starting with this one.
They said their vows, and Blythe mused on just how perfect the ceremony felt. It felt like hers, rather than one planned by people who were practically strangers. When the preacher said Finn could kiss his bride, he dipped her down like she’d told him her father often had her mother, and kissed her firmly, her heart filling so much she was sure it would explode.
When the ceremony was over, Jacob and Mona doted over the baby, kissing his cheeks and saying how much he looked like Finn. There had never been any doubt from the moment he was born which man he belonged to, but they’d had the tests done anyway. Beckett was theirs. Both of theirs.
Holding his son, she’d watched Finn cry for the second time. Now, today as he held her hand and vowed his heart to her for the rest of their lives, she saw a tear stroll down his cheek for the third.
Her husband was the toughest man she knew. He’d built their house from the ground up with very little help from his—at the time—growing team. He loved her fiercely and protected their son with everything in him.
Despite the trips to Austin he had to take for work, he made sure to be home every weekend and whenever she needed him. His dream of becoming a foreman had come true, and he’d in turn given her everything she’d ever dreamed of.
That evening, when Jacob and Mona said their goodbyes, they gave the couple the news that Asher had been arrested. They hadn’t spoken to him but a few times since the almost-wedding. They didn’t blame Blythe for leaving him and, in fact, thanked her for loving Finn like he deserved to be loved. They didn’t say it, but Blythe felt sure that Jacob had told Mona the truth about Asher’s crimes and Finn taking the blame. She held Finn extra tight when she gave him a goodbye hug.
As the evening calmed down and their guests departed, the couple fed their son and put him to bed. They made their way toward the living room to sit in front of the fire as Finn poured them each a glass of champagne. He lifted a bit of her dress, rolling it in between his fingers.
“This feels strangely like déjà vu,” he said happily, sinking onto the couch next to her.
“The same, and yet incredibly different,” she said with a smile. “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted, Finn.”
He looked at her in the firelight, his dark eyes radiating nothing but love for her. “I believe they callthata fairy tale.”
She leaned into his kiss, her heart thudding into her chest. When he pulled away, he smiled, his teeth grazing her lip. “And they lived happily ever after.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
PRESENT DAY
FIVE YEARS LATER
Blythe led Asher in through the front door, her heart pounding with confusion and anxiety.
